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Son Of RFK Facing Charges After Struggling With Nurses At NY Hospital’s Maternity Ward- With Video



Feb 25, 2012 15 Comments ›› Angelia

Washington Post:

A son of Robert F. Kennedy is facing misdemeanor charges after he struggled with nurses who tried to stop him from carrying his newborn son out of the maternity ward at a hospital near New York City.

Douglas Kennedy said he was trying to take the baby out of Northern Westchester Hospital for a quick walk when a group of nurses who thought the infant should remain indoors tried to stop him.

Security video obtained by WNBC-TV shows that the nurses stopped Kennedy from using an elevator, then tried to block him from using a stairwell.

The two sides disagree about what happened during the struggle. Kennedy said one of the nurses tried to snatch the child from his arms. The nurse, Cari Maleman Luciano, told police she was only trying to steady the “violent shaking” of the baby.

One nurse said Kennedy twisted her arm. Another said he kicked her in the pelvis. The security video shows a woman falling to the floor. Kennedy was eventually stopped from leaving the hospital by security officers.

The altercation happened Jan. 7. Mount Kisco police arrested Kennedy on Thursday. He was charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors.

Kennedy and his wife, Molly, said in a statement released through a publicist that the charges were “absurd.”

“It is sickening to think that our simple desire to take our son outside for fresh air has been warped into a charge of child endangerment,” they said. “The nurse had no right to attempt to grab our child out of his father’s arms.”

The couple said they hoped Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore would conclude that she had made “a grave error in making a crime out of a father protecting his baby.”

An emergency room doctor at the hospital who was accompanying Kennedy when the altercation happened said in a statement that the nurses were “the only aggressors.”

“Then and now I felt that Douglas would not be putting his healthy child at risk or danger by taking him for a quick walk outside,” said Dr. Timonthy Haydock, who said he has been a friend of the Kennedys for decades. “To charge Mr. Kennedy with a crime is simply incomprehensible to me.”

Kennedy is a reporter for Fox News and the 10th child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.


  • mike3481

    This is what happens when 1st cousins breed for several generations.
     
    And given the Kennedy history, this Kennedy and his wife might be half-siblings and not know it.

  • Just a Girl

     There’s a man who should be around a newborn. *rolls eyes*

    Damn.

  • I’m Right You’re Wrong

    I surprised one of the nurses didn’t end up falling down the elevator shaft because of alcohol induced circumstances. Or didn’t get beaten up by a drunk Kennedy. Or get punched outright in the face.

    • Just a Girl

       Or end up at the bottom of a river trapped in a car.

      Just saying.

  • DC

    What? He was just taking out his new baby to the bar for a drink!

  • http://twitter.com/RexRedbone Not Tom MannisThanks

    Because its a Kenndy the news of the whole thing i held for a month and a half after the fact

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_54WFAGW7SOZAYYLI5RLEWHYA5U Jafro

    It’s self-explanatory.  I just came to click “like” on everyone’s post.  There’s nothing else I can add.

  • Nano Flex

    Silly nurse, she did not realize she was dealing with America’s “royalty”

  • Skeena73

    HOW DARE ANYONE CHALLENGE ANYTHING A KENNEDY WANTS TO DO

  • ignifer

    im not a fan of the kennedys bus all other things being equal HE is in the right. the doctor of the child found no harm in it. the mother found no harm in it. the nurses and the hospital are out of bounds here.

    • Icorps1970

       But if anything were to happen to the child as a result who catches hell? Hospital and the nurses. 
      The asshole should have simply cleared it through the hospital. But he is a Kennedy so he figures anything HE does is OK.
      This is simply typical arrogant big money gangster mentality that has infected this family since the days of illegal alcohol.
      The whole family is fuc#ed up by the numbers.
      I think that policy is that babies stay on the maternity ward until discharged. Policy.
      What we have to remember is that a baby, a MALE baby is worth maybe 40000-100000 on the “market”. So the hospitals keep a close eye on them. If he wanted to take the “healthy” kid out he should have arranged to have it and the Mother DISCHARGED then take them home.
      The “doctor” is a Kennedy “friend” which means his testimony is worthless.

  • texasoysterman

    I sure as hell don’t want to come out defending an effing Kennedy, but he was the father. He has the right to take his child anywhere he wants. If he had only followed hospital procedure, checking out with the charge nurse, all of this could have been avoided. But, of course, he is an effing Kennedy, so he assumed he doesn’t have to follow the same rules as commoners. It looks like Kennedy assaulted the nurses, so he should face those charges. 
    And what’s up with that family friend doctor saying that the nurses were the only aggressors? What a tool. The nurses were doing their jobs, preventing a baby from being removed from the floor without authorization. Doc is just trying to protect a Kennedy which people have been doing for way too long. He should be charged with making false statements to the police.

  • USNA1985

    Don’t you guys know?  Rules are for the little people and other conservatives.  You can’t expect liberals and Kennedy’s in particular to be subject to such encumbrances!

  • motherbabyRN

    As a Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse I would have done the same. No one Is above hospital policy and rules. These rules are there to prevent baby theft. All babies are tagged at birth with electronic tags placed on the umbilical stump.  There are actually people we call shoppers that try to steal babies. There are also family dynamics that preclude family members from leaving with babies. Abuse, adiction, divorce.. As a Rn responsible for mother baby couplets we are required by law and policy to do what these nurses did. My sole job is to protectand take care of mother and baby, to be a patient advocate.  All the Kennedy stuff aside, Why would you take a newborn out of the hospital in winter without appropriate clothing? And if the baby was in unsteady  arms and was dropped we as nurses would be the irst person fired and sued. Following policy and rules and procedures kepps everyone safe. Kennedys all seem to think that the rules should not apply to them. By the way If you want tho leave the hospital against medical advice there is this nifty sheet of paper you can sign called an AMA waiver. sign it and we will escort you through the doors.

  • slam

    Its a question of security ,baby theft, Until the kid is discharged he cant leave the Hospital end of story. American Royalty be dammned.